Tales from 2011, with Dawnii!

Yesterday I shared with you guys some great words from Kate Hellenbrand about “the good old days” and being a female tattooer. This is from something I wrote for Total Tattoo Magazine, which is currently in the shops. You should definitely buy it, Total Tattoo is such a great magazine and I’m honoured to have a page in it. Anyway, what you didn’t know is, I also spoke to Dawnii Pit at Painted Lady, however she just missed my deadline! I was a bit gutted until I realised I can still share what she wrote, thanks to this site.

So, just like yesterday, here is something from Dawnii, about her experiences as a tattooer in 2011. I hope you guys have liked these two posts. Thanks to Sally for letting me put these online- Total Tattoo is out every month from all good newsagents.

In all honesty, I’ve never found that being a female has in anyway
held me back in my chosen career, however I’m possibly not the best
person to give an impartial view.

I began my apprenticeship almost 10 years ago and by this point many
female artist had already started making their presence known at
conventions and in magazines. The likes of Theresa Gordon (Wade),
Fiona Long, Mandy Barber and Jo Harrison were already renowned names
in the tattoo world and admired and respected by Artists and
Collectors.

Also in my favor the fact that I started at Modern Body Art, the
studios main artist and joint owner Jo Harrison is one of the
countries top female artist.

Throughout MBA’s establishment, it has seen an impressive portfolio of
artists including female artists such as Jo Harrison, Leah Moule, Jay
Vendeluxe, Tiny Miss Becca, Toni Moore, Vicky Morgan and Rachel
Mccarthy. Needless to say “I was in good company”

Yes, tattooing is a difficult job. It’s hard work to get into,
difficult to master and stressful to maintain but Im pretty sure
having a penis wouldn’t make it any easier.

Im sure that chauvinism does exist still within the tattoo world as it
does in many different industries but it’s definitely not as apparent
as it was 20-30 years ago.

Times they are a changing and in the words of Danny Trejo in Anchor
Man “Ladies can do stuff these days”. At the end of the day, tattoo
shoppers aren’t stupid — people will travel countries and wait years
for their chosen artist. If you can do the work that people want,
then a pair of boobs is the last thing that will get in your way
(pardon the punn!)